The invention relates to a device for filling a specific quantity of a flowing medium into packages, with a pump device, packings or seals, and connections for loading and discharging the flowing medium.
There are known bottling devices for liquids (juices or milk, for example) which fill open top packages which are guided on a conveyor belt. The packages of a series have a specific volume, and therefore a filling device is provided which, in assembly-line fashion, fills the correct quantity of liquid as accurately as possible. Also, to some extent, hose pumps are used, in which rollers secured to arms revolving in a circle, squeeze a hose laid along the circumference of this circle, in such a manner that the hose is pressed together with the roller at the point of engagement, and consequently the liquid is pushed ahead. Other filling devices with piston pumps, sometimes called piston fillers, are known, in which the predetermined quantity of liquid is determined by the piston stroke or by the volume of the cylinder. Such machines are designed suitably for universal purpose, such that even the aseptic filling of liquids like milk, for example, is possible. Therefore the filling devices have units which can be sterilized, but have the drawback that they are difficult to clean. Especially, the filling devices have to be partially dismantled, otherwise it cannot be assured with safety that the aseptic cleansing fluid flows around all parts as it is flowing through during cleansing, and cleanses sufficiently that rigid sanitary conditions are complied with.
A further drawback of known machines resides in the immobility of the filling device. The mechanical control devices for the cylinders of the piston fillers prevent mobility of these known filling devices, particularly assembly-line fashion up and down movement during operation.
This oscillating movement, with an amplitude of 20 cm. for example, is especially necessary in the bottling of milk, in order to avoid the formation of foam. In the bottling of milk, also frequently in the case of juices, it is often necessary to insert the outflow tube or pipe of the filling device partially into the package to be filled, and to draw the tube out upwardly as the degree of filling increases. In this way the aperture of the outflow tube can always be held below the level of the liquid, whereby the formation of foam is significantly diminished. The oscillating up and down movement of the outflow tube on the filling device can be attained either by moving the entire filling device up and down, or by moving the package itself up and down with relation to the filling device.
At present, a great many liquids and pastes are filled into so-called "soft packages" like those which have found wide distribution in recent years for milk, for example. These "soft packages" have no solid surfaces for mechanical support for up and down movement of the package. The result is an unstable movement, which leads to great difficulty. On the other hand, if it is desired to assure the up and down movement of the filling device, the mechanical controls do not accommodate this. In the case of piston fillers, the piston must be mounted on a stationary device and precisely controlled. In the case of hose pumps, a control is necessary for the mechanical drive of the above-described arms or other rotating parts.
Thus it is recognized that the automatic filling of flow media (liquids or pastes, for example) in accurate amounts is very difficult.
Therefore, the problem forming the basis of the invention is to create a measuring device for filling liquids or pastes into containers or packages with precisely specified volumes, which device has a simple pump drive and is freely movable with relation to the stationary machine frame.